


Nothing Much To Dream

by monkeystypinghamlet



Category: A Midsummer Night's Dream - All Media Types, Nothing Much to Do
Genre: Crossover, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 02:51:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2175369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monkeystypinghamlet/pseuds/monkeystypinghamlet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben takes his cousin Lysander out on a day trip to the Auckland Zoo and they run into some familiar friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing Much To Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Thought I'd write a lovely little NMTD/A Midsummer Night's Dream crossover fic!
> 
> This is in response to a [request](http://juliaperture.tumblr.com/post/95362175324/nmtd-fic-idea-ben-and-his-cousins-running-into-bea-and/) from [geeky-ballerina](http://geeky-ballerina.tumblr.com/).
> 
> [Ask](http://juliaperture.tumblr.com/ask/) open for more requests!
> 
> Enjoy x

If Ben had to hear his cousin talk about his girlfriend for one more minute, he was going to explode.

“She’s just _so_ beautiful,” he rambled on all over again. “She’s my whole world. I love her so much.”

It wasn’t healthy. This was exactly why Ben liked being single and intended to keep things that way. But his cousins had come to visit at a bad time, when Ben’s head had suddenly come alive with confusing thoughts and _feelings_ for God’s sake, they’d barged in, taken over his bedroom and his life.

“Lysander, shut up for just one second,” Ben said. “Can you actually go that long without talking about Hermia?”

“Uh, chill out man. I’m sorry for loving my girlfriend,” Lys said.

“Well, you should be. It’s rather annoying.”

“Whoa, what’s up? Are you bitter over someone?” He’d done it now. Ben was fuming but he couldn’t explain any of this to Lysander because Ben didn’t even understand it himself.

Ben was sure of one thing by now, before the cousins had descended: he was in love with Beatrice. That seemed to be the easy part.

He thought about her all the time now. About the two of them seeing a movie together, or getting dinner, or just watching the stars…maybe even holding hands.

And that’s when he’d stop himself, shake his head and shudder. What the hell was he thinking? And what could he do about it?

Lys going on and on about his happy relationship wasn’t helping in the slightest. He was a total love-crazed puppy dog and Ben just wanted to slap him out of it. 

“You know what?” Ben said. “Let’s get out of here for today. I’m sick of staying in this room.”

“Yes!” Lysander said. “Can we go sightseeing?”

“Sure,” Ben replied. “Whatever you want.”

“Is Minas Tirith nearby?”

“I’ve told you _a thousand times_.” Ben groaned. “That was a _film set_. Not all of Lord of the Rings was shot in actual existing New Zealand places. Seriously, how far away is Australia?”

“Well, I expected to see more orcs in Auckland,” Lys joked. Ben wanted to strangle him.

“How about the zoo?” was all he said.

“Yes! Hermia loves animals, I can take pictures to show her.” Lys ran to grab his camera. Ben sighed.

 

***

 

The last time Ben had visited the zoo was with Beatrice, Hero and Pedro when he was 14. It had actually been a really great day, the weather had been perfect and they’d managed to visit every single animal enclosure before the zoo closed.

In fact, that might’ve been the day his argument with Bea about flamingos had started. Yes, he could remember now - standing outside their enclosure and bickering as usual.

Would that disappear, if they got together? Would all the bickering and arguing have to stop?

Ben hated the thought of that. Arguing with Bea was so much more fun than bantering with anyone else. He hadn’t seen much of Bea recently for some reason and he could feel the unused energy building up inside him, ready to overflow.

“Ben, could you take a photo of me?” Lysander asked. The guy was having a great time. It turned out he could talk for ages about anything, not just his girlfriend. For the last hour Ben had been hearing about Australian marsupials and it hadn’t even bothered him that much. He’d just tuned out and Lysander’s voice had become a fuzzy noise in the back of his mind.

“Sure,” Ben said, taking the camera from Lys as he posed in front of seal exhibit. He actually reminds me a little of Claudio, Ben thought. His head is way up in the clouds. 

Just as Ben handed the camera back to Lysander, he heard a familiar voice behind him.

“Ben!” Hero cried. “Fancy seeing you here!” Beatrice was beside her, deliberately looking away from Ben. His insides immediately knotted up and everything he wanted to say got stuck in his throat.

“Are you friends of his?” Lysander asked Hero.

“These are the Dukes,” Ben finally managed. “Hero and - and Beatrice.”

“Nice to meet you,” Lys said. Ben introduced him and Hero welcomed him to Auckland.

“It’s a great day for sightseeing,” she said. “Have you seen much yet?”

“Not really. This is my first day out! I’ve been stuck in Ben’s room for the past couple of days.”

Beatrice scoffed.

“Something you’d like to say, Bea?” Hero asked.

“No,” she said. “I just couldn’t imagine a worse place to be stuck. I feel so sorry for you, Lysander.”

“Ah, it’s not all bad,” Lysander said. “I’ve been Skyping my girlfriend a lot.” Oh, God. Here we go, Ben thought. Naturally Hero asked about Lysander’s girlfriend and he was off on another tangent.

“Dried mango?” Bea asked Ben, holding out a bag towards him.

“No thanks,” he said. His stomach was already feeling sick and he had no idea why. 

“Funny,” Bea said. “I thought you liked mangoes.”

“My appetite changes from day to day,” Ben shot back.

“Oh really?”

“Yeah. That’s a perfectly normal thing to happen. In fact, you know, I used to hate olives. But now I really like them.” The words were out of his mouth before he could even think better of them and only now did Ben realise how important they were. Did Bea know? Had she seen that video, did she know that Ben’s stomach was tying itself into more and more knots every second he spent with her?

“How can you like olives?” Bea said, disgusted. “They’re the biggest waste of space on a pizza. Don’t even get me started on that.” The knots disappeared. Now there was a desperate, sinking feeling.

She had no clue. No inkling. There wasn’t a single sign that she knew, which meant that if Ben ever wanted something to happen, he’d have to do something crazy like ask her.

God forbid he became all lovey dovey head in the clouds like Lysander or Claudio.

Eventually Hero and Lysander’s conversation exchanging cute date stories came to a close so they all bid each other goodbye.

“Hopefully we’ll see you around!” Hero said to Lysander. At least Claudio chose wisely, Ben thought.

Lysander’s attention drifted back to the seals but Ben watched Bea as she walked away with Hero. She was drifting away, getting further and further out of reach.

It’s a dream, Ben realised, to think that she could ever love him the way that he now loved her. Nothing but a crazy, impossible dream.


End file.
